Page 24 of Their After Hours Playbook

April squealed so loudly on the other end of the line that Paige had to hold her phone a good foot away from her ear. “Tell. Me. Everything.”

Paige sighed and turned in her office chair, looking out the window. Her tryst with Zach still felt like a dream. “It started in the hotel bar.”

“Oh, right. The date for drinks.”

“Yes.”

“Well? What happened? You’re stalling.”

“He was being super flirtatious. And nice. He introduced me to a potential sponsor.”

“I still have the feeling you’re holding out on me, Paige.”

Paige realized she was indeed dragging her feet. Even though she and April told each other virtually everything, it didn’t feel quite right to kiss and tell. “I am.”

“Okay. Then don’t tell me everything. Just tell me the highlights.”

“Seven times in my hotel room.”

“Whoa.”

“But before that, once in the bar. That’s how it all got started.”

“Wait a minute. You two had sex in the hotel bar?”

“No. I’m talking orgasms.”

“His or yours?”

Paige laughed. “Mine.” She gnawed on her thumbnail. Merely thinking about it made her want him. “He, uh, reached under my skirt when we were sitting in a booth in the back.”

“Seriously?”

“I would not make that up. I couldn’t make that up.”

“I told you he was going to be fun to spend some time with.”

“It was definitely fun. No doubt about that.” Paige quietly groaned. There was so much frustration warring inside of her. She would’ve given anything to have more of Zach, but she didn’t see any way that could possibly end well, and she was tired of self-sabotaging and making things harder on herself. “But of course I told him that it couldn’t continue.”

“Why? You’re both single. You’re both adults.”

“First off, there’s all of the weirdness between our two agencies.”

“That was between you and his stepdad. Zach doesn’t seem to care. At all. He was flirting with you so hard at the pool that afternoon.”

“What about industry gossip? If we were involved, people would talk. I don’t want to be the butt of anyone’s jokes. It’s already hard enough to garner respect in the sports world.”

“So keep it quiet. Nobody’s saying you have to let anyone know that it’s going on.”

Paige chewed on her lower lip, wondering if that could possibly work. She knew she could be discreet, but could Zach be counted on for the same? The man had given her an orgasm in a hotel bar. A public place that was chock-full of people they knew. “I don’t know. There’s my personal track record with men, too. That’s definitely eating at me.”

“I know, honey. And I get it. But it’s not the same as your situation with Andre. It’s not like you and Zach are going to get married or something. Right?”

“Of course not.”

“How did he take it when you told him that it couldn’t continue?”

“He said that he didn’t see a problem with seeing each other every now and then.”

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